Carriers // 3117 Warsaw // October 18th
Why is the rock music in Cincinnati so quoteunquote dreamy and prone to shoegazity? Is it because we have so much (too much?) room to roam? Are we trying to forget our mortal lives in a way that we can’t do without copious amounts of reverb and delay? Are these really questions I care about? Or, am I just trying to dissociate from the fact that I am about to walk into a DIY venue I’ve never been to, alone?
Lucky for me, I walk in and am immediately greeted by Ken Russo of Tin Can Collective — we have a pleasant conversation after I mistakenly attempt to give him the $5 suggested donation for the show. 3117 Warsaw is a creative & performing arts space in Price Hill that is hosting community activism, celebration, and shows by bands both local and from out of town. I walk past a kitchen and a bathroom and enter a garage-sized room dedicated to DIY events.
In another stroke of luck, I already know the band playing first: Carriers. I had previously seen them play at Urban Artifact when they were sharing a bill with Fycus, and really enjoyed their lush, washy sound that still felt tight, considered, orchestrated. Once again, they deliver. Singer and guitarist Curt Kiser’s songs are melancholic, but hopeful, like discovering an old broken mechanical object that could still be fixed up. Carriers’ history of playing together as a group is evident throughout their set: a chuckle when a mistake is made, small little interactions between members during songs.
During some sections, drummer David Corns switches out a stick in his right hand for a shaker — I love this technique! It’s a great tool for dynamic possibilities. In fact, the dynamics of this drummer was what initially impressed me about this band. Double in fact, all the members are pretty considerate of each others’ instrumentation. The result: when Carriers gets loud, they are a wall rather than a storm.
“So, you just got nominated for the Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best New Artist, right? But y’all don’t strike me as people who just started playing together recently. How long have you been playing?
“Uhm…I think this band has been, what, three years almost?”
“Yeah.”
Are they just getting around to noticing you?
“As far as CEA stuff? I think… well last year they didn’t do one. They took a year off, but, as far as that goes, I don’t know, we’ve been in it a lot THIS year. Like, we’ve done a lot of shows in 2017, and just gotten on good shows.”
I noticed you describe your music as Americana.
“I guess, I don’t know, I think that now it’s kind of a blanket genre. But yeah, that’s what I’ve said for a while; space-y Americana rock. Just because… well it’s not folk, but it does kind of have an Americana element to it.”
In what way?
“Hm, well all the songs are written initially just, kinda singer-songwriter, acoustic and vocal. And that’s how we started. ’Cause I play acoustic… and so they kind of have kind of a twang-y, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, kind of sound to them.”
Do you have a favorite Cincinnati venue to play?
“The Woodward.”
“The Woodward is always amazing to play.”
“Other than MOTR. Other than that, for like just regular shows. Like if we’re not opening for a bigger band or something, MOTR is always a great spot.”
“Yeah, they’re all good people over there.”
Y’all have been doing a lot of shows in the Cincinnati area, but also you’ve been branching out a little bit, right?
“A little bit. Like, we did a show in West Virginia. But yeah, we haven’t done too many out of town shows. We did a show in Lexington in November. Next year we plan to be doing a good bit once our record is out.”
I’m really looking forward to that! I noticed you’re not on Bandcamp, or anything. Is that on purpose? Are you just waiting for the right time?
“We just finished a record two months ago, and um…album art and stuff is being done right now. Hopefully that’ll kind of get wrapped up in the next month or so. And then we’ll try to find someone to release it.”
What drew me to your music when I first saw you at Urban Artifact, I could hear everything, like, y’all got loud but it was still legible. And I was wondering if y’all make a conscious effort to allow certain things to come through? I noticed that the drums are often quieter even when the rest of the band gets louder, and I appreciate that. Would you agree with that?
“I mean, yeah! I don’t like drummers who do too much. Y’know? Unless it compliments something else. I do a lot of editing when we’re working out songs.”
Editing?
“Yeah, y’know. Like seeing what works well. Like, this guitars tone is blended too much with the other one so… change it up, do a different part.”
“Yeah, we do focus on… dynamics. Especially because there are a lot of us. There’s a lot of sound happening. So, we try to be conscious of what’s happening. And we’re working on that even more, just so it’s not like, I’m not gonna be strumming the whole time, I’ll be chill so Cory’s part can come through more. Yeah we try to be aware of that. Especially the synth, too; like we don’t want our guitars sounding the same way as the synth. We try to leave room for that to open up.”
I noticed your chord structures are kind of simple, which might allow for harmonic building and that kind of exploration, is that something you aim for?
“It just depends on which song. Some songs I write are more complex as far as progressions and some are kind of… I just… I usually write songs by singing, and then I’ll just kind of play along with it. So the general chords would just be pretty clear. Easy for people just to hop in and play with us.”
“And that’s back to there being a lot of people… I guess five’s not that many people…for like a ska band.”
*laughs*
“But it could be! It could be just really loud.”
“When we first started playing, we didn’t have a keys player so we just had a sampler, and we had a drone going, throughout entire songs. It was like a wall of dreamy, wash.”
“And then we played over it.”
And this point in their life as a band, I think Carriers has managed to construct themselves as the wall, rather than just playing over top of it. The lads are working on their debut album with big bois Bryan Devendorf of National and John Curley of The Afghan Whigs — honestly, I’m excited to hear it!
Carriers played first on October 18th, 2017. They play at Queen City Radio with Sweet Pablo on Thursday, November 30th.
